News: Helen Hunt

Since making the swtich from the small to the big screen with As Good As It Gets nearly 10 years ago, Hunt’s been a surprisingly infrequent sight for an actress who had appeared to have made it to the big time, with this week’s Bobby her first cinematic outing in almost 2 years. For her next outing, though, she’ll be moving behind the camera, writing and directing (as well as starring alongside Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick) Then She Found Me, revolving around a woman going throug a midlife crisis. It would, however, be churlish to suggest that Hunt will be writing from experience.

News: Renée Zellweger

Once again playing the English Rose in this week’s Miss Potter, Zellweger will be reverting to her natural Texan drawl for her next three pics.

First up, due for release in the US in August, is Case 39 – seemingly one of those Oscar-hungry “message” pics, but with a turn towards something a bit darker, as Zellweger plays a social worker trying to rescue a young girl from apparently abusive parents, only to discover there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.

Then, due out in the States in November, comes the film that billionaire comic Jerry Seinfeld is hoping will give him yet another big cheque, animated comedy The Bee Movie. Zellweger plays the New York florist who saves Seinfeld’s bee’s life and shows him that humans are not as bad as he thinks – until he discovers that we eat honey and decides to sue us. The all-star voice cast also includes the likes of Chris Rock, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Kathy Bates, Alan Arkin, Eddie Izzard, Larry King and Oprah Winfrey.

Finally, and due for a 2008 release, she will crop up in George Clooney’s next effort as writer/director/star, 1920s-set American Football-based romantic comedy Leatherheads. Little information is as yet available, but it looks likely that she and big George will be hooking up on screen – and based on Clooney’s previous outings as director, it should be one to look out for.

News: Sophie Okonedo

Since her turn in 2004’s Oscar-winning Hotel Rwanda,up and coming British acretress Okoned’s career has been going from strength to strength. After this week’s Scenes of a Sexual Nature, she will barely be off our screens for the next year, with four films and two TV projects coming up – including in the BBC’s revival of the popular children’s storytelling show Jackanory from January.

On the big screen, she’ll be cropping up alongside siblings John and Joan Cusack in The Martian Child before acting as the love interest for two very different stars – rapper Mos Def in the 1970s period piece Stringbean and Marcus, and Matthew Broderick in inter-racial dating drama Wonderful World – before taking on the action thriller genre alongside Kevin Bacon (somewhat implausibly stepping into the shoes of original star Vin Diesel) in Black Water Transit.

News: Matt Damon

The Departed‘s Damon continues to be one of the hardest-working stars in film, with two films already completed and two more currently filming since wrapping on Scorsese’s latest.

Of those already completed, first up is the highly promising The Good Shepherd. Directed by Robert De Niro, Damon takes the lead opposite De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci and Alec Baldwin in this period piece drama about the founding of the CIA, written by the hugely talented Forrest Gump, The Insider, Ali and Munich screenwriter Eric Roth. After that he’ll be popping up in Margaret alongside Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno in this coming of age drama about a teenage girl convinced that she caused a traffic accident.

Damon is currently busy filming the third movies in two separate franchises – Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum. If you’ve seen the last films in either of those two series, it should be fairly obvious which one’s likely to be the best…